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People get service dogs for a variety of reasons, one of them being therapy, which is why we created this list of the 11 best small service dog breeds for therapy work.

Therapy work comes in many different forms and it isn’t limited for just psychotherapy. It extends to physical and emotional cases as well. A person who suffers disorders that cannot be handled by the person itself or family tends to seek therapy. A therapist is someone who specializes in treating mental, physical, or emotional problems. They help people overcome their anxiety, emotional stress, depression, or other disorders.

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Therapy work is done not only by therapists but by dogs as well. Therapy dogs must have a ready temper, be friendly, and be gentle. They should also be calm around strangers. These dogs are evaluated in terms of temperament to see if they will qualify as service dogs. Therapy dogs visit hospitals, retirement and nursing homes, disaster areas, and more. They should be completely fine with being touched and cuddled considering their main job is to be comforting to whomever they’re around.

Service dogs obviously come in all different sizes, but here we’re just concerned with smaller breeds. When it comes to your personal use, a consultation would help you find a breed that suits your needs and lifestyle. The breeds on our list are perfect for people who live in bigger cities and/or have smaller living spaces. Just like choosing the 10 Best Service Dog Breeds for PTSD, we took a look at Animal Planet and BarkPost Stories for recommendations.

Here are the popular choices for the 11 best small service dog breeds for therapy work: